


Pomegranate Kisses

by Fireway



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Movie AU, and it shows, i dont know how movies are produced, ill add tags as they come but uh, retelling of persephone and hades myth ig, so just enjoy the ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 01:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21639460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fireway/pseuds/Fireway
Summary: Arya Stark gets casted in a musical movie as the female lead, Persephone - and when Hades is played by Gendry Waters, it can be quite hard to keep the relationship on the screen off the screen.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Minor Sansa Stark/Margaery Tyrell - Relationship
Comments: 21
Kudos: 71





	1. Audition for a Lover

Arya flipped through her lines one more time, palms sweating as she read through the highlighted ones – the ones she was to read during the audition. She took a deep breath and flipped to the next page, and as she mouthed the line to herself, the door opened at the end of the hall. Fuck.

“Stark, Arya?” the assistant’s voice echoed, and Arya jumped up from her seat, straightening the hem of her sundress, slipping the script to her bag and walked to the end of the hall, smiling at the assistant keeping the door open for her. “Thank you, Bella.” Arya thanked casually, as if she wasn’t straining to remember the right name and give the best impression she could. The assistant walked behind her, as Arya entered the room, her eyes flicking to the red X on the floor, then taking in the casting crew sitting behind their desk, with a camera on their side, ready to tape her audition.

As Arya walked to the X, making sure the spot was right, she gave her most brilliant smile to the casting crew, nodding to people behind the desk – she only knew Yoren as she had worked with him before, and lucky for Arya, he was the casting director.

After Arya had greeted the crew, her eyes shifted to the camera. Someone in the crew pressed a button on the side of the camera, and soon the red dot started blinking lazily at Arya.

“I am Arya Stark, 21 years old and I will be auditioning for the role of Persephone.”

* * *

“Sansa? Hi, yeah, are you free?” Arya’s voice was a bit shaky after the audition from the adrenaline and finally putting it behind her.

“I – uh, yeah, give me a second.” Arya heard the keyboard clicking on the other end of the line as Sansa typed something out, before speaking again. “Yeah, I can take my lunch break now. Where do you want to meet up?”

20 minutes later Arya opened the door to a crowded café, filled with people having their lunchbreaks. Arya grimaced as she saw the line, but dutifully walked to the end of it. After Arya paid for her mocha and a celebratory cake slice, she started to look for Sansa from the crowd. Just as Arya was about to call her sister, she finally spotted the familiar red hair in the crowd, making her way to her sister.

“Hey! How’d it go?” Sansa asked as soon as she saw Arya, the young woman sitting down on the opposite side from her sister, as Sansa’s co-worker, Margaery sat beside the redhead.

“Good, I guess. I feel like I don’t think I was what they’re looking for, though. They asked me to read one bit _‘being a bit more demure’_ -” Arya mimicked, rolling her eyes as Sansa snickered in mockery. “And that’s the last word I’d use to describe the role.”

“What did you audition for?” Margaery piped in before Sansa could.

“It’s a movie retelling the story of Hades and Persephone – I tried to get Persephone.”

“Ooh, ambitious.” Margaery mused, and Arya absolutely could tell Margaery only said it because she knew Arya had only had minor side roles in a few indie films back when she was still studying in Winterfell University for her performing arts degree. It had been even worse recently - after she moved to King’s Landing, the nation’s capital, the only roles Arya had been able to get were playing some extras and working as an assistant to other actors.

“You left out the part where it’s a musical.” Sansa’s words snapped Arya out of her thoughts, making the brunette groan as Margaery smirked, amused.

“Wow, I thought you were only into those really … Dark and depressive films with artsy red lights and at least one person dying.” Margaery teased her best friend’s sister, making Arya roll her eyes.

“It’s Greek mythology! It’s still dark and depressing!” Arya argued, as Sansa and Margaery laughed at her words, teasing remarks being thrown around before the two had to head back to work. As they left, Arya could finally finish her cake in peace, tapping a response to her agent as he hounded her about how the audition went.

* * *

Three days later Arya was rudely interrupted from her sleep by her phone ringing. Well, it was well past mid-day, but Arya had finished her night shift at the fast food place she worked at at six in the morning, so it was still early for her.

“Hello?” her voice was croaky from the sleep, but as soon as she realized who the caller was, all sleep was completely gone from her voice. “Yes, this is her.”

Arya tried to stumble out of her bed as gracefully as she could, looking for some paper and pen. “Yeah, okay, yeah. What was the time again? Okay, thank you so much, I’ll see you then. Yeah, bye.” Arya wrote down the address and the time of the call-back. After Arya had made sure the call had ended, she let out a shrill in celebration of her first-ever big callback. In a matter of seconds, Arya’s phone was back in her hands, as she found her agent’s number, smiling from ear to ear.

“Sandor? Hi, am I interrupting?”

* * *

The callbacks were two days later and as Arya made her way to the western side of the city, she found the pit in her stomach grow larger with each step – long gone was the excitement, as for the last two days she had been just thinking about how callbacks didn’t exactly mean she would get the part, only that she was selected from the huge group as a “maybe”.

As Arya opened the door to the waiting hall, filled with at least 20 or 30 women of different ages and looks, Arya felt her stomach drop involuntarily. Still, she found the desk of the assistant, walking to it.

“Hi, I’m here for the callback? Arya Stark.“ She stated, and hated how her statement sounded more like a question – yet she forced a smile on her face, although it was clear she was nervous.

“Great, do you have your resume? I’ll take some copies of it, and give it to the crew to look through.”

“Oh, I brought extra with me.” Arya stammered, digging through her bag for her files, handing out her resume to the assistant with golden hair – Arya hadn’t seen her last time. The assistant seemed happily surprised and after taking the files, she directed Arya to sit with the other candidates.

For Arya, it felt like days passed as she revised her lines and watched a woman after woman strut to the audition room and come back after 15 minutes. After a bit over two hours, it was finally Arya’s turn, as Bella, the assistant from the first audition, peeked her head through the door.

“Arya Stark, you’re up!” Arya stood, head held high as she walked to the room for her audition.

This time, the room was filled with strange faces – she still recognized Yoren and Bella beside him, but as her eyes moved through everyone, she knew there were bigger names in the room – she recognized Daenerys Targaryen, an upcoming director who was in charge of the movie after she won The Stag last year for her incredible movie on Norse gods. Arya knew the others were producers and other important crew, and the lump in her throat grew as she walked to the familiar X on the floor, smiling to everyone through her nerves.

“Please state your name and age to the camera, and we can begin. We’ll have you read some lines with our casted Hades -” Daenerys spoke, gesturing towards the man standing to the side of the table with a water bottle in his hand, lowering it from his mouth. Arya’s eyes moved to him, as the man with the most brilliant blue eyes and crooked smile waved his hand a bit awkwardly to her – but soon Arya’s attention was brought back to the director as she spoke. “- And we’ll have you sing together for a bit, so we can see how your voices go together. Although I should mention that we are ready to cast someone else as the singing voice for Persephone, if it’s the only factor we’re not happy with when casting someone to play her.” Arya could absolutely tell that the director had told the same thing a few dozen times already.

Arya felt everyone’s eyes on her as she stared at the camera lens with intense eyes and the widest smile she could muster. “I’m Arya Stark, 21 years old – Uh, auditioning for Persephone.” Arya wanted to bite her tongue as soon as she stumbled in her words, not sure if she was even supposed to say who she was auditioning for. For a moment, her eyes flickered around the room, to see disapproval or amusement – but didn’t have time to find any, as the man playing for Hades put his bottle down and walked towards Arya, gesturing her to take a step to the side so they would both be in shot. He extended his hand to a shake, and Arya’s heart jumped as she made eye contact with him – the man’s eyes were as blue as the Braavosi sea on a sunny summer day, or the roses on her aunt’s grave every spring. Arya took in his features, somehow so familiar – the dimples, the crow’s feet around his eyes.

“Gendry Waters. I’ll be playing Hades with you today.” The man introduced himself, and as she heard the name, it clicked – he played the lead in the musical Sansa had dragged Arya to see with her last year, and she was sure he had been in some TV show she had watched, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Arya Stark, pleasure to meet you. Shall we?” Arya couldn’t believe how sure her voice sounded, how firmly she shook his hand, as if she hadn’t been stressing if her hands were clammy or gross for the last two hours. 

“Alright, can you read the lines from where Persephone – or Kore, in this case – insists on staying with Hades in the Underworld.” Daenerys requested, and as Arya glanced at the white-haired beauty, the woman was holding pen, looking expectantly at the two.

Gendry cleared his throat, and Arya found herself feeling glad that he started, so she could get a feel of how he played Hades – and where the scene was exactly supposed to start from.

“You are not one of the dead – return to your home, to your mother, this place is not made for you.” Somehow, it almost seemed like Gendry’s voice grow larger, filling the room, making everyone look at him, focus on him – magnetic. His voice had dropped an octave, dark and brooding, dark brows shadowing the blue eyes.

“Neither are you.” Arya started, her hand rising to touch his arm – but lingering, not quite yet touching. Need, want, arguing. She focused on her voice, the soft tone becoming more insistent. “I’ve seen your loneliest hours, Hades. I’ve seen the dead, heard the growl of Cerberus. I am not frightened, don’t you see?”

“Don’t you know what claims the flowers at the end of summer?” _Oh, he was good_. Subtly, Gendry started to circle her – almost like a predator stalking it’s prey, trying to scare, to intimidate. Arya knew it wasn’t in the script – she didn’t know if he was told to do so they could test how well the potential Persephone would improvise, work with their Hades, or if it was natural for Gendry, the kind of instinct you get after acting enough, making each character your own. His eyes never left hers. “How do you think you, a daughter of spring, the maiden of fields, could ever be a part of my realm of death and cold caverns – Underworld will suck you dry before the autumn winds even touch your skin.”

Arya breathed, moving with Gendry, eyes narrowing a bit, voice growing stronger, as her chin rose in pride. “All your years down here, and yet you are not much of a judge. You judge my character on the flowers I grow, the grain I give to my people – yet you forget the flowers don’t die, they go to the ground, they wait until next spring to bloom yet again. The earliest spring roses have the sharpest thorns – as do I.” Arya felt her throat drying as she felt her heart thrumming in her chest, the corner of her lips quirking in a quick smile, almost as a challenge.

“Persephone..” Gendry breathed, voice softening as he stopped – as did Arya. “I do not want your spirit to die in this darkness – the flower might go back to the ground, but it’ll never be quite the same next spring.”

“Why should it be? They grow, they adapt, as should we – we are not people, but we shouldn’t stay in the same cycle for all our lives. Aren’t those the unhappiest souls in here?” Her brows furrowed, as she stepped closer to ‘Hades’, defiant, rebellious.

“Thank you. That’s enough.” The director’s voice cut the tension, and just like that the scene was gone, as Gendry took a step to the side, the tension in his shoulder releasing, and Arya followed suit soon. Arya turned to the desks behind which the crew sat, smiling.

“Miss Stark, are you familiar with the song given to you with the script?” Daenerys asked as she wrote down something to her notepad, brows dark over her eyes, not moving up to Arya even when the young woman answered.

“Yes, quite. Is it going to be acapella or --”

“We’ve prepared the music. Whenever you’re ready.” Daenerys interrupted, waving her hand almost dismissively to a younger man to her side, who started to furiously tap at the smartphone in his hand, connected to the speakers in the room. “Please start from the second verse and sing it solo, then have mister Waters join in on the chorus.”

Arya had never been too confident about her singing voice – she could hold a tune and follow a melody, but she had never been praised for her voice alone. It was raspy, a little low for someone interested in musicals of any sort, as most of the female roles went for high altos and more often than not, sopranos.

Arya looked at Gendry, who had his hands behind his back, crossed, as he had straightened his back, eyes looking at a spot in the wall behind the crew. Arya assumed it meant he was ready, then nodding to the man in charge of the music.

The familiar melody was soft enough for everyone to hear, but not too loud so the taping would have a clear showcasing of the actresses’ singing voice. Arya had listened through the melody after she received it in an email barely an hour later after she got the call of her call back audition, and had memorized it front and back. Arya’s hands were nervously holding onto the fabric of her dress, as she counted in her mind the beats of when to start. It was odd enough to start from the second verse – but she knew the words, it was just the matter of remembering them.

“Leave my bed of golden flowers,  
For love, the wintertime is near  
Kingdom of the dead shall be ours,  
Please let the skies be clear,  
As I ascend underground,  
The fields of golden shall be dead,  
Let the trees of summer be uncrowned,  
The queen of Underworld shall be my name instead”

Arya felt the last note be a little bit flat, but she didn’t show it as she knew it was better to held her head high than show that she was upset about the little mistake. Arya took a breath, eyes jumping quickly to the man beside her just before the chorus started.

“Ours are the souls to guide,  
Hear as a dead man pleads,  
Wash away his pride,  
As I mark you as my own with pomegranate seeds,  
The long winter months shall bedevil  
The ground above  
But in the darkness, let us revel,  
In the whispers, fall in love”

Arya could hardly focus on Gendry’s voice, as she was trying hard to even keep her own voice at the same level as his – it was clear he had the experience and his voice was far more stronger than hers, and in a way, it annoyed Arya – deeply. She was trying to show the director, the crew, she could sing, she could be in a music-heavy movie, but there he just went, stealing the show. How annoying.

But even more annoying was that he was good. Gendry had such a control of his voice – and the voice was beautiful. It was the kind of voice that you could listen to for hours, something that reminded Arya of the singers of the past, those who would sing in taverns and to travellers. It was a voice that went shivers down her spine.

Arya turned her head to look at the crew behind their desks, some of them scribbling something down, finally catching the white-haired director looking at her, inquisitively.

“Thank you, miss Stark. We’ll make our decision by the end of the week.”


	2. The Chosen Ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya gets casted - and immediately draws conclusions. Gendry Waters - obviously an arrogant asshole.

Arya’s head jerked up as her music suddenly stopped – in mere seconds, the soft rock was replaced by her ringtone as her phone buzzed on the countertop.

Arya lunged at the phone, checking the caller ID – Sandor Clegane. She answered the call, a tight knot in her stomach tightening.

“Hi?”

“You owe me a meal.” Clegane’s voice deadpanned on the other side of the line. Arya blinked.

“What?”

“You heard me. A meal, and none of those cheap-ass --” Then finally, it clicked – when Arya first was asking the already retired manager/agent to work with her, they had made a deal; when Arya would get her first big role, she’d treat him to a proper meal. “—and don’t give me that boohoo I’ll buy you one when I get my first paycheck-bullshit, I’ve been burned before.”

“Are you saying I got it?!” Arya practically squealed to the speaker, earning a grumpy groan from the other end of the line.

“Yeah. Congrats, kiddo. They’ll email you before 4 PM today, don’t sign any papers without me. I want to check out the terms before letting you fuck up your career.” Arya smiled at the notion – although Sandor Clegane was a sour man with no sense of humour, he still cared – why else would’ve he even agreed to work with her after he had officially retired.

“Thanks. I’ll text you as soon as I know when they want me to sign.” She ended the call, a huge smile spreading on her lips as she was unable to stay still, opening the family group chat, quickly typing a message out.

**Arya** : Guess who’s your new Persephone?

 **Jon** : did you change your name? :O

 **Sansa** : Congratulations!!

 **Jon** : yeah, congrats

 **Ned** : I’m so proud of you, Arya! I told mom, she told me to say congratulations!

 **Rickon** : OMG good job!!!

 **Ned** : Put your phone away in class, Rickon.

 **Bran** : oh so when arya gets a job everyone responds but when i send you cool bird facts yall are suddenly quiet

As Arya was reading her younger brother’s message, Sansa suddenly sent her a private message.

Sansa: Lunch today?

Arya: Sure! What time?

Sansa: I have a client meeting at 11.30, but I should be free at 12. Wait for me in the lobby?

Arya: See you then!

Sansa: Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I’m so proud of you :’)

12 o’clock was just two hours away, so Arya made her way to her bathroom, applying some makeup and choosing some nice, flattering enough clothes to look presentable. It was almost 11.15 when Arya emerged from her flat, keys dangling in other hand, the bus card pressed between lips as she tried to check her bag for her wallet and phone. She had been checking her email for the last two hours like crazy, not letting it out of her sight for a second.

But if anyone asked her – she’s chill. No stress. It’s just the schedule for the next year or so of her life, no biggie.

After meeting up with Sansa, the two sisters made their way to a nearby shopping mall to find a quiet lunch place to spend the next hour in.

“So, what can you tell me, like, now?” Sansa finally asked, as if she hadn’t been dying to ask ever since Arya announced her new role.

“Uh, not much. I should be getting the script soon after I’ve signed all the NDAs and all the other bullshit papers, but right now I just know the premise of it and who’s going to be Hades. And, like, the director. But not much else.” Arya explained as she turned the corner, nodding towards the Dornish restaurant in front of them, walking in as Sansa spoke.

“Wait, who’s the director?”

“Daenerys Targaryen. She won the Stag last year for Stormborn and had a nomination before that for that short film.. Uh, the one with the like, really “woke” commentary? I think it’s on NBO?” Arya explained, turning her head to Sansa as her sister gasped, gently punching her little sister’s shoulder.

“Wait, you’re working with _Targaryen_? Arya, that’s, like… Big. Like, everyone expects her next movie to be amazing. And you’re _in_ it?” Sansa said, bewildered look in her eyes. “Oh, you’re going to sign me so many posters and shit if the movie sells. I’ll sell them all for good money.”

Arya laughed at Sansa’s request, then shaking her head.

“I still haven’t signed anything, so I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Uh-huh. Okay, what else? You knew who’s Hades?”

“Yeah, I think I mentioned him… Wait, no, that was callbacks. Never mind.” Arya tried to remember, teasing her other sister on the purpose as the redhead looked like she was about to burst out of curiosity. “It’s Gendry Waters. I think he was the male lead in that musical you dragged me to? The Guy Who Loved Musicals?”

“Arya – fucking – Stark, you didn’t think to mention this to me before?” Arya was positive Sansa would jump her at any moment now if she didn’t give her all the info she could, so as Arya was piling up food onto her plate from the buffet, she recalled what the man playing her co-star was like the first time she met him. “What’s he like?”

“Yeah, I don’t know anything about him, though. Like, sure, nice voice but that’s given. Uh, I don’t know – polite? Intense? Like, really intense.” Arya answered, as she paid for her lunch, looking at Sansa, who seemed to be wondering about something.

“Did you get his number?” It was Arya’s turn to nudge Sansa’s shoulder playfully, almost making her drop her tray, soon the conversation about Arya’s role turning into bickering.

It was just as Arya was shovelling another forkful of friend rice into her mouth as her phone buzzed, the lock screen displaying the awaited email – and it soon almost became Arya’s demise as she choked on her food, trying to get her phone unlocked as soon as possible.

* * *

Three weeks later, Arya stood in front of a small, two-story building, clutching her bag with nervous fingers. It was the first read-through of the script, and she was absolutely sure she would forget everything the second she’d step into the meeting room.

Arya made her way inside, greeting the woman behind the desk in the lobby who gave her a pass to prove she was there on business, and with that, Arya made her way to the second floor, trying to find the right door number.

Her steps grew softer and slower as she spotted the right room at the end of the hallway, as she saw someone open the said door – was she late? Arya digged her phone out of her pocket to check the time – she still had plenty of time before the meeting officially started. With that, she returned her eyes to the person coming from the meeting room – maybe there had been a meeting before the script-read?

But as Arya looked up to see the stranger’s face, she realized it wasn’t a stranger, but Gendry Waters, staring at a script with furrowed brows, barely missing her as he zoomed past her on the narrow hallway, a pleasant scent of cologne soon being the only proof he ever was there as he had turned the corner already.

Arya looked behind her where he had walked, trying to not let her mouth hand open – he hadn’t even acknowledged her being there.

 _The absolute gall of this man_ – if he thought he was some big-shot for being in one big musical, he’d get exactly the treatment an arrogant asshole got from Arya.

And with that thought, Arya put on her most striking smile and strutted to the meeting room, greeting the few people in the room she had met a week prior as she signed on to be casted. She’d show him she wasn’t to be played with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was feeling super stuck on this chapter, so it is bit of a filler and to get things started and set the premise, but I really hope you enjoyed reading it! 
> 
> I am planning on writing a set of Christmas/Holidays-themed Gendrya fics and publishing them on the days leading to 25th, so if you are interested in those, please go "vote" for which prompts you'd like to read by liking the specific tweets on this [thread](https://twitter.com/lesbianismkills/status/1202903626991230976) \- I can't write them all, and as they all inspire me, I'd really love to put out something you would like to read!

**Author's Note:**

> how do greek legends exist in westeros where there is no greece? listen buddy pal you are here to read dumbass gendrya shit, not to ask questions like that
> 
> im on twitter if you want to tell me i suck @lesbianismkills


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